Maximum Ride: Stuck
by SignedSealedWritten
Summary: The Flock has been captured by the School: again. They're stuck. But they're the Flock. They'll make it through. Right? Right? T for safety, read and review!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **_I don't own Max, readers. Sucks to be me. _

**Note**: _Doing some editing, removing bloopers and such - don't mind me. _

**Author's Note**: _The Flock has been captured by the school again, so this is set before the school get taken down by them. Basically, it ... well, that'd be giving it away. But mass panic and such are about to follow for the Flock. Please, please review, and I hope that you enjoy. :) _

* * *

I punched the bar of the cage in pure anger. I really, really, hated this place. Just the smell alone was enough to make any hybrid mutant go mad. I would rather live in the sewer system. And, hey, we've been in there before. Trust me, if I had the choice, I would live there for the rest of my life. We all would.

I felt Fang's gaze on me, his dark eyes were calm and reassuring. "You alright?" He mouthed my way.

"Just dandy." I mouthed back. "Who doesn't love these cages?"

"You know what I meant."

"Yeah, I do." I turned away from him, looking to the rest of the Flock. It was early morning still, I thought, but couldn't be sure since there were no windows in the lab. They were all asleep in the cages, Gasman and Ig were snoring gently, Nudge mumbling something, and Angel was looking ... well, angelic. Their soft breathing was the only constant in my life, and it could be taken away from me at any moment.

Take one month ago, for example. We'd been living free – as free as fugitives from an evil School could – free as birds, so to speak. We were surviving on the wilderness – fast food and dumpster diving. We'd never been happier, not since Jeb. But I didn't want to think about that.

Then, the Erasers attacked.

Actually, it was the new breed. Gasman and Iggy called them flyboys. I called them annoying. Not only were they robots, but when they went boom, it was really, really, disgusting. And they smelled just as bad, if not worse, as the originals.

They'd taken Nudge first, threw her in the back of a truck, and then Gasman had been captured next. Then Angel, and Ig – he'd actually done well for someone who's blind. Most of us don't even think of him as blind anymore, only once in awhile does something happened that reminds us of what these dumbutt excuses for scientists had done to him.

Then they'd taken Fang. He wouldn't have allowed it if he hadn't been knocked unconscious.

So, of course I _allowed_ myself to be captured so I could stay with them.

_Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that, Max._ I thought to myself.

Gasman moaned in his cage, waking up slowly.

"Hey Gazzy." I said to him.

"Mornin' Max." He was used to waking up here now, even if he didn't like it. "I'm hungry."

"Sorry, Gasser. I can't do anything about it. They'll bring breakfast soon." They always did, and it was just enough to sustain us for a bit. Even if it tasted like poo.

Yes, my friends, I said poo. Being in a cage for a month can make you pretty loopy, believe me.

_"Tastes more like fish paste to me, Max." _Angel thought to me.

_"Morning, sweetheart. How are you?"_

_"I'm okay. My arm hurts a bit." _Yesterday, they'd taken Angel, my sweet little girl, away from us. Nobody knew where they had taken her except Angel, nobody knew what she had had done to her. She refused to tell us. All she said was that it hurt and that she didn't want to talk about it. And that it had something to do with her arm.

I looked at her arm now. It _looked_ fine, but hey, looks can deceive. If you saw us walking down the street, I'd like to think you wouldn't know that we had wings.

I was just thankful that they'd returned her to us. We were always hanging at that balance – we knew they would take us each, one by one, but we always came back. But really, how long could it last before they went to far.

_"We won't give up, Max. We're invincible, you said so yourself."_

_"You're right, Angel."_ I tried to close down any negative thoughts so that I couldn't worry Angel anymore than she already was.

Iggy woke up next. His strawberry blonde hair was limp and his face was sad. He would never get used to it, I knew. It was times like these when we were reminded that he was blind. He didn't even know if we were all here unless we spoke to him, which we did. Every morning.

But this morning, we didn't have time.

The door burst open.


	2. Chapter 2

**a/n****: Alright, so far I have had a good response to this, so I am going to post some more. I would have either way though.**

**Disclaimer: No ****ownage**** of Maximum Ride**

**this**** is in Max's POV)**

Ew.

That was the only thought that came to my mind that I didn't have to censor for Angel when I saw Ter Bocht standing in the doorway.

"Hey, Ig, guess who?" Gazzy said. "It's the dude who wants to dominate the snickers bars!"

Nudge snorted in the cage next to mine. "Max, doesn't his mother dress him too? I seem to remember that. She had bad taste."

"My mother does not dress me."

"Suuure. You just keep telling yourself that." I told him, rolling my eyes.

"You vill not get anyvere vith this stupidity."

"Neither vill you." I said, giving him a death stare.

"Enoughve!" He said. "Ve need the quiet vun vor testing."

All of us seemed to have the same idea at the same time: nobody talked, not even Nudge. Seconds turned into minutes, and then, Gasman broke the silence, doing a perfect imitation of Ter Bocht.

"Vou need da quiet vun. Vich vun vould dat be?" I looked over to Fang, the corner of his mouth twitched upward.

Ter Bocht's eyes narrowed, and he looked at his clipboard. I'm pretty sure that if you look up dumb scientists in the dictionary, a picture of a weird looking guy with a white coat, staring at six bird kids, would be there.

"Da vun called Fang." He must have had a picture or something, cause he went over to Fang in the next second, when none of us answered. "Ve vill be using dis vun for da testing."

"And, I'll be using you for kung fu later. So I guess it goes full circle."

"Do not test me."

"Hey, I'd say the same to you." Fang said, an unusually long sentence for him.

"Enoughve!" This dude was definitely losing his patience.

Nudge was laughing so hard that she was gasping for breath. I knew that she would be crying as soon as they took Fang, but it was really good to see her laugh right now.

Ter Bocht opened Fang's cage door, and gripped him by the wings, in what was to us an incredibly painful way. Fang didn't even grimace. I knew he would have tried to escape, but, even if he did, there was nowhere to go. We were stuck. Captive. Like lab rats.

What's new? All in the life of a bird kid freak.

Ter Bocht pulled him out of the cage, still by the wings, and dragged him through the lab door. When the door closed, and they had to be about twenty feet away already, I heard a pained yell. It wasn't Fang. Angel was giggling.

"He kicked him in the shin." She said.

Soon, we were all laughing. But it wouldn't last long. We had worrying to do.

And hoping.

Worried that Fang might not come back.

And hopeful that when he did, it would be in one piece.


	3. Chapter 3

**a/n: Hey, its me again. I'm sorry that I haven't updated in awhile, but…. Yeah, I started thinking it wasn't good. But I convinced myself otherwise and hear I am again.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. I wish I did. I own the Dasani waster plus, orange tangerine flavor that I am drinking. **

**Max's POV**

The door snapped open some time later, and Fang was returned to us. I sighed inwardly. He _was_ in one piece, though he was pale and had dark circles under his eyes. His arms were bruised.

He leaned against the wall closest to mine, in the cage next to me, taking a few deep breaths. There was a cold sweat on his face.

"Are you alright? What'd they do?" I asked, leaning against the same wall.

"The usual." His voice was raspy and dry, his lips were cracked. "To a new extreme. Ran for 4 hours, no water." He attempted a smile, but failed. "I'll be fine. Did I miss lunch?"

I shook my head. "The grandmother type white coat lady will be here in…" I checked my pretend watch. The day I actually _have _a watch, I'll let you know. "about an hour. And I'm giving you any liquid that I get. No arguing."

He had opened his mouth to argue but closed it, probably on account of him _needing it._ Minutes passed by, and after awhile I realized that Angel was crying.

"What's the matter, baby?" I asked, trying to smile for her.

"I thought that they were gonna do the same thing to Fang that they did to me. But they didn't. So I'm happy." She said, wiping her eyes. I felt the Flock's eyes on me.

"Angel, honey, why don't you tell us what they did to you? Maybe then we can stop them from doing it again." A complete lie, of course, but if they gave her… oh, I don't know _poison, _I would really like to know, just so that I'm prepared.

Angel shook her head, and Nudge patted her through the cage. "Angel, tell Max. Max can make things better. She always makes things better, because, well, she's Max. Right?" Angel nodded, then looked at me, sadness etched on her face. Anybody who can harm a six year old like that should be jailed, sentenced to life, and _then _have all his tortures performed on him. For a start.

She took a deep breath, and Nudge rubbed her back. "Well, they brought me to this big room with a lot of lights, and a metal table. I don't know what it was called."

"OR." Muttered Fang. "Operating room."

"All of the scientists were laughing and thinking bad things. I was really scared, and they strapped me down to a table. I managed to punch one in the head though." She smiled. "They didn't like that, so they decided to do the surgery without numby stuff." My fists clenched at my sides.

"What did they do?" the Gasman asked.

"They put these long metal things in my arms. I think they said it was… some kind of … I don't know. I was really scared by then." She held up her arm, and I could see the new scars forming from where they'd shoved the things into her arm. Fang's eyes were on my back.

"That's all they did. Then they brought me back here." She sniffled and wiped her nose. "I'm really tired, Max. Can I go to sleep?"

"Yea, Angel. We'll protect you." Iggy said, and Angel curled up into a ball, clutching her arm protectively.

None of us talked for a while. At sometime or other, the lunch lady came in, and gave us each food and water. When Fang wasn't looking, I poured my water into Fang's cup. He drank it without complaint. Angel's food went untouched in the crate.

"I can't believe it." I said to Fang after awhile.

"What? This surprises you?"

"No. That's the sad thing." I said, shaking my head. "It doesn't surprise me at all. And anyone who can operate on a six year old without anesthia, and be called a scientist, has mucho problems."

Fang nodded, and then, after a pause, said, "Max, they're losing their minds. We've got to get out of here soon. Plan?"

"I …" I started to tell him that I didn't actually have a plan, which by all means, _he knew, _ but something popped into my head. "We've just got to wait, a bit more. Eventually they'll make a mistake and we'll be out of here, as soon as we can."

"But how long is a bit more?" He asked, calmly.

"Today." I said. "Today, and I'm sure of it." Lie.

For the second time that day, the door burst open, only this time, I'm sure you can guess who it was.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note:

**Author's Note:**

**I am so sincerely sorry for the long wait, I took a break from this one for awhile, since I got caught up in my story Animal Crackers. But, here I am again. I took down chapter four and combined it with this one, because chapter four was embarrassingly short. **

You guessed it… or, maybe you didn't. Mind reading is really Angel's specialty.

Anyway, Roland Ter freakin' Borcht stepped through the door. In case you haven't gotten your pin yet for the Haters club, I'm sorry, but our orders have been backlogged. See us in a few years.

"What's up, Doc?"

"Max, ve need you in da experimentation voom."

"Over your dead body." I replied casually.

_Max, don't go._ Angel thought to me.

_Sweetheart, I don't have a choice. At least they're not taking you again._

_I'd rather they take me._

My heart closed up. _I'd rather they take me. _I repeated her statement, and I could see her sad eyes on me.

I met Fang's eyes. He was in charge, until I got back. In charge of what, I didn't know. In charge of five cages. Yea.

"Okay, take me away, oh evil being…" I said, melodramatically, putting on a show for the younger ones, holding my hand against my forehead as if pretending to faint.

And, for once in my disastrously, oddly long life for an experiment, I was actually forming a plan.

I scooched the back of my cage, still in the pretending to faint mode, leaning against the back, but the cage was small enough so that my legs had to be braced, scrunched against the bars of the door.

And then he put the key in the door.

Wrong move, buddy. You mess with Max, you're gonna get the… wings.

Or feet, rather.

I kicked out, hard, catching him in the stomach. It was enough to break a rib, knock the wind out of him, and he clattered against a table as his weak, decrepit body fell to the ground, still conscious.

I burst out of the cage, grabbing a metal tray that lay on one of the creepy steel tables into the room, and smashed it against his head, _hard_.

He crumpled, being the weak, non mutated human that he is. He thinks he's so cool 'cause he's got a 'degree' in medicine? Well, I have freaking wings. Get over it.

"Is he _dead_?" The Gasman called out in amazement.

"No, Gazzy, I just incapacitated him." I said with a roll of my eyes.

"Max, _keys_." Fang reminded me.

"Oh, yeah, right." I said, grabbing the keys from his limp form.

"You _decapitated him_?" Gazzy asked, eyes wide.

"Max _decapitated_ Ter Borcht?" Iggy said, his sightless eyes gone just as wide as Gazzy.

Nudge was laughing despite herself. "No, _incapacitate_. It means she hindered him. He can't move to come get us like the big bad wolf."

"But the Erasers… or whatever they are these days… still can." I reminded them, running over with the keys. "So, everyone hush, and lets _move, move, move_."

I jammed the key into the Gasman's cage door, and wrenched it open. He threw himself to the ground, landing more like a cat than a bird kid.

"Up in the air, now!" I commanded, and he shot directly up without a running start. _Ouch_. He hovered somewhere near the ceiling, out of site of the windows… but there was no doubt in my mind that they had servalance cameras _everywhere_. There were no sirens going off. Was there seriously nobody watching? What time of day was it? With only artificial light, I couldn't tell.

I opened Nudge's cage door next, and she ran as fast as she talked, she was next to the Gasman in a flash.

I went for Angel then, I opened her cage faster than any of the others. On the floor, Ter Borcht moaned, but didn't wake.

She wasn't like Nudge or Gazzy. Angel didn't move, just stared at me with wide, scared eyes.

"Come on, Ange." I coaxed gently. "We've got to move, fast."

"N-no!"

"_Angel_, please."

"No!"

"Is it your arm? We'll – we'll fix that! Just come on!" This day was like rubbing sandpaper on raw skin.

"I-cant." Her lower lip quivered, and my heart nearly burst.

"Fang!" He understood, he pulled the same move I did, only he actually _kicked out_ his cage door. He could've done that before, but the younger ones, probably not, and we hadn't had the keys then, anyway.

Still no alarms – could they really be that _stupid_ to be understaffed with the Invincible Flock here?

Yes, apparently.

Fang was next to me, where I stood trying to coax Angel out.

"What's wrong, Angel?" He said, peering in.

"Yo, Max, blind bird kid still locked up!" Iggy called, and I tossed the keys to Nudge, who worked quickly to unlock him.

"Come on, Angel!" He called as soon as he was out, hovering next to Nudge and the Gasman. Only this time, along with his way too loud shout, I swore that I could hear a clatter somewhere down the hall.

"You know what?" I asked Angel, my jaw set. I had never lost my patience before with her, but there was always a first time for everything, right? I mean, I never ever thought I would _fly_, being stuck in the School all day.

And here I was, free as a jailed bird. Which would never change, if we didn't get Angel out. There was no way that I was leaving her behind. I felt bad after all she had gone through, but if I didn't get her out, the white coats would _not_ be nice.

"Get out of the cage, this minute. I'll carry you if I have to, just get _out of the cage_."

She clambered to the front, and jumped down into my arms, sobbing hysterically. Her wings were tucked to her back.

"Fang, window." It was blacked out, hence the no light of day thing, but it was there, all the same.

Let me repeat. White coats dumber than an Eraser.

And trust me, I've met some ones who are more than a few fries short of a Happy Meal.

"Got it." He said, soaring up to the window, looking for weak points.

"Iggy, trail Nudge." I said quickly, again, hearing the sound of what could be a clatter somewhere in the hallway.

Angel was still sobbing, and I kissed her forehead as I thrust out my wings, jumping up into the air.

Crash.

Fang broke through the window, soared through, I winced as I saw the droplets of red blood streaking the linoleum. He poked his head back through, motioning for us to follow. I could see the light of… night, now. Pitch black outside.

Perfect. I had no problem seeing in the dark.

But white coats would.

Nudge shot out of the window, then Iggy, his finger on the hem of her tattered jeans. The Gasman shot out next, I could see them all hovering on the other side of the window, silent as the smallest hummingbirds.

"Max?" Angel asked me in a small, quiet voice as I shot up to the window, ready to exit.

"What is it, sweetheart?" I said, smoothing her hair, curled up like a baby in my arms.

Tears streaked her dirty, bruised face.

"Shh, honey. You're okay." I left the room behind, careful not to let Angel hit any of the shards of glass that were left.

"No," she whispered, and my heart dropped.

And then soared, momentarily. For the moment, we were free as birds, not jailed in the least, soaring through the chilly night air for the first time in over a month. We flew in our v, flying through the night faster then we had. Muscles would be aching tomorrow, but that wouldn't be an issue.

"_Max_," she said again, and I turned my attention back on my little baby.

"I – I cant."

"You can't what, doll?" We were soaring over Death Valley now, what an appropriate name, huh? We were leaving it behind fast, too.

I had the sinking feeling, as she spoke, that I knew what she was going to say. Fear gripped every shard of my being.

"I can't fly." Her blue eyes looked up at me, contrasting sharply with the backdrop we were speeding over. "I'm _incapacitated._"

**Author's Note:**

**Dun. Dun. Duuuun.**

**Wheee.**

**It's TWO IN THE MORNING.**

**Let me know what you think! Virtual cookies for all of my reviewers!**


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note:

**Author's Note:**

**I can't believe the response that I've gotten! I couldn't be happier! Thanks to all my reviewers, past and present. **

**For copyright reasons, I couldn't post the songs that I used. I suggest that you go look them up, though. They're credited to their original creators, though. I own nothing. UNDERSTAND? Good.**

How do you respond to somebody who told you that they can't fly?

Well, I know what you're thinking…. Okay, so maybe I don't, like I said, that's Angel's thing, but you're most likely thinking that you respond the same way you do when somebody tells you that they can't walk.

But, let me give you a hint here: _you don't_.

What are you going to say, shake it out? Uh, no. You don't. Because that would be like telling a fish who just landed up on somebody's fishing rod, on a boardwalk, to 'shake it out'. Which, trust me, he's already tried, and its going to fail. Without his blessed water, he just ain't gonna survive.

Angel was the fish (and, if it was a more appropriate time, that little comment there might be funny. Angel_fish_.) … and the water was her wings.

Without her wings, it was as if she couldn't breathe. Not in the literal sense, of course, but in the fact that it was _just_ as vital for her survival.

But, I quickly blocked all those thoughts. No need for me to _confirm_ her fears.

She was holding tightly onto me, being more of the six year old that she was then I'd seen in a long time. I stroked her back gently as we flew, and she buried her face into my shirt.

Just for kicks, I touched one of her wings gently. Of course, I expected her to jump, get mad…

But, nothing.

Nada.

Zilch.

ZERO RESPONSE, FOLKS.

I gulped down fear. No. I wouldn't let myself think that way. Whatever those dumb lame excuses for scientists had done to her, it could be reversed. She would _not_ be this way forever. I refused to believe it.

How far were we away now? Far enough? We'd been traveling for some time, seeing as Nudge and the Gasman were lagging… even though I was sure that we were going to have major scientist on our trail, we couldn't continue this way for much longer. We hadn't stretched in a month.

Not exactly a workout result that _any_ of us wanted to endure.

"Alright guys, pit stop." I called into the wind after looking over my shoulder. The School was nowhere in sight. And believe me, my sight is good.

"Where are we stopping, Max?" Nudge asked from her spot in our formational v. "Are we far enough away from the School? Maybe we should fly a bit more, you think? I don't want to get caught again…" she trailed off with a look. I didn't blame her. She hadn't spoken much in the last few weeks, for fear of … well, fear of fear, I guess you could say.

"We're stopping…." I scanned the ground, looking for a spot.

"There." Fang said, pointing to a clearing in the forest, with enough tree coverage that we wouldn't be spotted.

I sent him a silent thank you with my eyes.

Wow, more poetry? _You can see my soul through my eyes, can't you Fang? _

Angel looked at me and giggled. I blushed something the color of a spoiled tomato, but I was glad that I made her laugh.

Just wish that it couldn't be used for blackmail.

We landed softly in the forest like birds of the night…. Okay, I've decided I'm a bad poet. But, heck, I'm one hell of a good flyer, so, I'll take 1 out of 2.

And I can't cook. So that's one out of three.

But let's get on with it, shall we?

It was still somewhere in the night, but it was nearing day. And, to top it off, we had no more food. It was kind of confiscated when we got captured.

I hope the Erasers accidentally ate one of Gazzy's bombs.

"Guys, I'm thinking that some sleep will do us all some good." I said, knowing that nobody would protest. "I'll take first watch."

I'd placed Angel down in a pile of leaves, her wings were still held tightly to her back. Fang shot me a look that asked 'whats up with that?' and I sent him another that said 'five minutes. Wait until she's out.'

"Max?" Angel said, her blue eyes wide as a lake.

I crouched down. "Yes, honey?" The rest of the Flock was settling in, save for Fang, who was watching me with careful eyes.

"I don't wanna be alone."

My heart clenched tightly. I held out my arms and scooped her up again, kissed her blonde head. It didn't matter that my arms were as tired as God-knows-what, it just mattered that Angel felt safe.

I carried Angel over to where my lookout was, cradling her in my arms. Her wings didn't look right, and I felt fear leap right through me. Whatever those guys had done to her…

I had two wings, two feet, and ten friends that join together. I like to call those joined together friends _my fists_.

Fists, meet white coat face.

I'm glad your meeting went well. It won't be the last.

She curled against my stomach, her thumb in her mouth. God, I hadn't seen her do that since she was three. _Not_ a good sign.

I swallowed hard, to make sure that my voice would come out normal.

And then, I sang a song that I hadn't sung to her since we'd lived with Jeb. It was called "All The Pretty Little Horses."

When I was done singing, a smile was showing on her lips, her eyes closed and peaceful looking.

"Shh," I told her, stroking her head gently.

"Sing another song." She mumbled through sleepy lips.

"Alright, greedy," I joked, and I began to sing a song called "Swing low, sweet chariot." Something that Jeb had used to sing to us.

As I sang the last line that I remembered, I could see her sigh and fall off to sleep.

I heard a quiet tsking behind me, and I turned my head slowly, carefully. He'd better not have been….

But, ah, he was. Of course. Silent, mysterious, nut-job Fang had been _spying_ on me.

I gave him the evil eye. "Did you enjoy it?" I asked. "I hope you fall off the branch you're sitting on."

"Aw, Max, don't be so humble. We're talking American Idol here."

"Go fall into a ditch, Fang."

"I'd fly back out."

Angel stirred, and I pressed a finger to my lips. The rest of the Flock was asleep now, and Fang jumped off the tree branch and landed silently next to me.

He mouthed his words so that Angel wouldn't hear. "What's with her wings?"

My heart leapt. I'd been hoping that it was just a figment of my imagination. "I don't know." I said solemnly, cautiously.

"Come on, spill." He told me, rocking back on his heels. We told each other everything, so I didn't know why it was so hard for me to come out with the words 'Angel can't fly'. Maybe because I didn't want to believe them myself.

I am _so_ the Queen of Da Nile.

I was just going to have to come out with it.

"I think…" My voice caught, and he urged me on. "I think … Angel's wings are paralyzed."

I'd never seen so much shock on emotion-less Fang's face.

**Author's Note: **

**I know, I know… I'm evil for cutting it off like that, again. But you know what? If it goes for too long, its going to get bad… let me know what you thought of this chapter, **_**honestly**_**.**

**Hmmm… this one goes out to my friend Riddler. For teaching me sarcasm.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Maximum Ride: Stuck**

**Author's Note:**

**There were some mistakes brought to my attention with this chapter, and I have corrected them. I'll be posting the next, new chapter, shortly. **Location: Undisclosed

"Have you performed the requested operation, Dr. Ter Borcht?" The female's voice sounded crisply over the LCD screen, her face blurred; incognito. The new director of Itex, only just getting back on its feet, couldn't have her identity jeopardized.

Roland Ter Borcht had his hands folded neatly in front of him. He was alone in the large, dark room, sitting at circular oak table positioned in front of the screen. His accented voice traveled over the undisclosed distance easily. The corporation known as Itex wasn't going to waste time on communication that wasn't precise.

"I 'ave, Director. It vill avect each of dem in turn, from de voungest to de oldest." He said, though his eyes found the table instead of her clouded face.

"Then you have injected each of the bird children with the serum? How have they reacted to it?" Her voice was oddly skeptical.

"D-Dat's da ding, Director. Ve don't know about dat."

"What do you mean you don't know, Dr.? Are you suggesting that the children are not in your possession?"

"Ve had a new scientist go in-"

"Why would you have a new scientist go in there? They are the most important experiments that we have in this entire building!"

"Dey are gone, Director."

Her voice was a dangerous mix of sweet and sour. "Then you will find them, Dr, or you will find the most unpleasant times coming your way."

"Ves, Director. I already have a team on deir trail."

The LCD screen flipped off with an almost angry sounded click, the black in the room now complete without the light from the screen. Ter Borcht put his hands on his head, leaning his elbows on the table. He'd never been more frightened of any director before her, but she had the power to do more than kill him.

That, perhaps, was why he hadn't told her the worst failure of all in this project.

**Author's Note:**

**I'm sorry, but you're going to have to wait for **_**that**_** answer. –evil snicker-**


	7. Chapter 7

**Maximum Ride: Stuck**

**Author's Note: I know that I suck at updating. I lost all the work I did on this story (which was only two chapters, but still,) I got discouraged, so here we are, a long time later. I really do enjoy writing this story: I feel like I'm losing Max's voice, though. I need to keep her in my head. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and the problems in the last chapter were fixed (I hope). Happy New Years.**

Immediately I pressed a cautious finger to my lips – waking Angel up now wasn't possible. In fact, if I could keep her sleeping for long enough, I might be able to figure this out without freaking her out right away. I wanted to prolong that until it was absolutely necessary. If I could only figure this out, figure out why this was happening and what it was … then I could come up with a solution.

Yeah, right. The chance of me thinking up a solution that worked in the next hour or so was a million to one.

And I wasn't exactly the luckiest _chica_ around.

In fact, if there was a worldwide poll, I think I'd definitely come in last on the luck scale.

I locked my brown eyes on Fang's dark eyes, hissing out a breath. It had felt so good to voice my fears – something I wasn't exactly used to, but then again, there had been a time when Fang and I could tell each other everything in the world and not worry how the other would react.

And then puberty came along and ruined everything with its damn hormones.

"What do you mean, Max?" His voice was low, tight with more emotion than I've ever heard from him. He may be quiet, subtle, but this was family. This was different. Every word he said was annunciated, separate from the one before and the one after.

I quieted my voice, barely a whisper now. "I mean, she can't fly." Was he a ding-bat or something? What else could I possibly mean? For God's sake, this wasn't a riddle. It was a simple, very confusing statement that there was nothing right about. Why couldn't he understand that?

"Her wings can't be paralyzed, Max." Agh, don't you just hate it when someone sounds so calm but all you want to do is scream at them?

Welcome to my life. Or the past five minutes of it, rather.

"Fang, give me five good reasons why its not possible."

And, like the rest of his life, he stayed silent as ever. The one time when I wanted him to talk to me and tell me I was wrong, that this was something… oh, I don't know, something else. Anything else.

But, of course, he didn't. Fang stayed silent, and so did I, we were locked in a silent gaze that said more than words ever could.

We were stuck. Like fish out of water, like birds out of sky. We were stuck.

She moaned in her sleep, trying to turn over. I shifted so that she wouldn't have too, and she settled back down without wakening, thank the lord. That was the last thing I needed.

"Iggy."

I turned my head to the side, scrunching my brow at him. "What about Iggy?"

Fang rolled his eyes at me. "Iggy, you know, the blind kid asleep a few yards over?"

I resisted the child like urge to stick out my tongue at Fang – under normal circumstances, I would have. "I know _who_ he is, Fang. _What about him?_"

He obviously thought I wasn't the brightest bird kid in the Flock – heck, I probably wasn't, but at least I wasn't being a mysterious idiot.

"Have him check out Angel – he's more than likely to find something wrong."

Why in the world hadn't I thought of that? "I don't want to wake her up." I murmured, looking down at my little girl, seemingly so peaceful, if just for these few moments. I didn't want to wake her, cause her any distress, but I knew that I had to. Sighing, I nodded to Fang. "Get Iggy, bring him up here, then go back down and watch over Nudge and Gazzy."

With a single nod, Fang jumped down from the tree branch where he'd watched me sing Angel to sleep. That annoying little … I won't finish that sentence, seeing as it's not a nice word that I was going to use there.

I took a gaze around me – dawn would break soon, and we'd stay in the forest for the full day, I'd assume. Even if we were all fine and dandy, I had no interest in taking to the sky in broad daylight just after a jailbreak. It was a fine forest, after all – the trees were high and thick enough to cover us, but thin enough for a quick burst out exit if the need was to arise. We'd been lucky, this time. I didn't want to have to try our luck with another clearing until I had to.

That was also another option that I didn't really want to grapple with at the moment. It was more than possible for us to carry Angel for a distance – but if we had Erasers breathing down our necks, it would be difficult to maneuver with. We'd be stuck – caged in the forest, a cage without bars.

**Author's note:**

**I'll be updating again as soon as I can! **


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: **_No, I still don't own this. It's a sad, sad story that I don't own it, but I'm dealing. _

**Author's Note**: _I know that I'm a terrible person. I'm running out of excuses. If someone – anyone – reviews this and tells me that they are reading, this will once again be updated on a regular basis. If there are no readers – well, I'd love to continue it but I've got several other stories that _have_ readers. So if you're reading – a new reader or an old reader – drop me a line, because reviews make me a better author. And a faster author. _

**Location**: Undisclosed

He knew that he'd lied to the Director of Itex; he knew what grave of an offense that was with a project as special as the six bird children were. Ter Borcht knew that if word got out – if he was found out – he'd be worse than dead.

Itex had eyes, ears, surrounding everything. Every room felt as if it had shrunk, he could not breathe. They would find him out, it was only a matter of time – and not only one lie, but two. The lies were not the only problem that haunted the scientist's mind and gnawed at his consciousness. No, there were other problems at hand that haunted him now.

He'd told her that a 'new scientist' – a younger, inexperienced one – had been on duty when the experiments had broken loose, but the forming bruise on his skull was the proof of the lie. _He_ was the one who had been on watch; _he_ was the one who had let the experiments slip through his fingers.

And then there was the second lie; the grave lie, the one that would get him worse than killed.

He'd told her that the experiment on the bird children had gone as planned. He'd told her that yes, the security equipment he'd implanted on them was in place.

It was supposed to work as an anklet would on a criminal on parole – stop outside of the boundaries and an alarm went off – except it would be different with this particular piece of equipment made for the bird children. Step outside of the School and the bird children would lose their wings. They would not be able to fly, they would be paralyzed as soon as they left the parameters. In effect, if the bird children were ever to escape they would be grounded, _stuck_. It would go off slowly so as not to drop them from the sky – damaging the experiments was not the way the scientists wanted to go. It would affect them from youngest to oldest, one by one.

It would have been one of his greatest inventions, if not for several things.

The seed of suspicion had been planted within the experiment's minds. The fools who had done the youngest's implantation had not done it well; she'd noticed the placement of the device when the others had not noticed theirs. If they noticed – if they tried to tamper with it and succeeded – all would be lost.

And then there was the fact that they'd escaped: not something any of them had been banking on. It was supposed to be tested the next day, early in the morning, under a controlled environment.

There was the fact that he'd forgotten the most important part of any tracking device – something to track them with. He'd been working on the assumption that six grounded bird children would not be a difficult subject to locate. With the luck of the scientists who were no looking for the 'Flock', as they called themselves, he had been very wrong.

Then there was the eldest. Maximum. A problem child, she was.

She was the wild card.

And that – _that_ was Ter Borcht's biggest fault of all.


End file.
